1. Field
The invention is in the field of vehicles constructed to pick up rocks scattered over ground to be cleared of rocks, so such ground can be used for agricultural purposes or otherwise.
2. State of the Art
A rock picker having some resemblance to the apparatus of the present invention has been disclosed heretofore in U.S. Pat. No. 3,261,408 issued to L. J. Simonar et al. on July 19, 1966, and entitled "Stone Picker". However, there are significant structural and functional differences. Thus, in that machine, any digging that may be appropriate to unearth rocks that are near the surface is effected by outrigger digging and conveying cylinders having digging teeth arranged helically to move rocks centrally of the machine into the path of a toothed, rotating drum, which picks up the rocks and feeds them into a throat of fixed dimension between lower and upper grids, through which chain conveyors operate to engage and propel the rocks upwardly onto the lower grid to discharge onto a second grid leading to a towed, receiving trailer.